The present disclosure relates generally to information networks and, more particularly, to computer systems and computer-based methods for automatically enrolling users in an automatic updating program such as an automatic account updating program.
Computer networks offer systems that will update data used by users of said systems. However, in order to receive this updated data, the user typically has to enroll in the update system. Enrolling in such update systems can be tedious and time consuming.
For example, in the payment industry, individuals may repeatedly transact with a single merchant, such as a repeat customer or by way of recurring payments. A repeat transaction may be triggered at regularly scheduled intervals or upon occurrence of an event, for example, the balance reaching a predetermined threshold. It has become common for individuals to enroll with merchants with whom they expect to have repeat transactions for goods and services using a payment card. Once enrolled, when making a transaction, the individual need not reenter personal data and payment card data. Instead, the merchant may attempt to complete a transaction using the already submitted personal and payment card data. These transactions are known as “card-not-present” (CNP) transactions. In such transactions, data from the payment card including account identifiers, such as personal account numbers (PANs), and, in many instances, an expiration date for the payment card is transmitted from a merchant, along with an indicator that the transaction is a CNP transaction. An “account-on-file” transaction is another type of transaction in which the merchant stores data regarding the cardholder's payment card in a database, then retrieves the stored payment card data and includes it in a payment authorization request. One specific type of account-on-file transaction is a “recurring payment transaction,” which a merchant initiates on a recurring basis for a particular cardholder. In such recurring payment transactions, the merchant stores data regarding the cardholder's payment card in a database, then retrieves the stored payment card data and includes it in each recurring authorization request.
During an authentication phase of a transaction, the personal account data may be used by authenticating entities to authenticate the transaction. Entities involved in the authentication process may include, for example, the issuing bank that issued the payment card to the cardholder, the merchant, and/or the acquirer bank that authorizes payment card transaction and transfers money on behalf of the merchant. These activities may be coordinated by a payment processing system that includes a payment processor. In some instances, the issuing bank and the acquirer bank compare personal account data associated with the cardholder for verification purposes before authorizing the transaction. However, when the personal account data stored by the issuing bank and the acquirer bank do not match, such as due to an update of personal account data with only one of the authenticating entities, the transaction may be denied.
When a cardholder's personal account data changes, transactions may be denied unless updates are shared with each authentication entity. The process for updating personal account data can be time consuming and may be prone to error. What is more, the updating process may be performed haphazardly since cardholders do not typically have a comprehensive list of parties that they have enrolled with for future or recurring transactions. Missing an update may cause denial of an important payment, potentially causing further complications and penalty fees.
To prevent these interruptions, merchants may wish to enroll in a program providing access to updated account data. In at least some of these known account update systems, a merchant must enroll with the system to receive updates. These known systems require merchant enrollment in an account updating program to be initiated by the merchant's acquirer bank. The acquirer bank may initiate merchant enrollment by submitting request files to the account updating program or by manually completing and submitting enrollment paperwork. Acquirers must submit enrollment forms that include a variety of merchant identifying information. Current methods of merchant enrollment are time consuming and prone to error. There is therefore a need to automate merchant enrollment in an account updating program.